7. WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A TOOL TO PROMOTE WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

Starting one’s own business might be one of the most powerful tools for women’s economic empowerment. Despite this fact, women are less likely to become entrepreneurs than men. There is a long list of factors that build barriers or set limitations for women to start their own entrepreneurial activity such as those mentioned in the preceding text. 

However, there are plenty of existing tools, initiatives and successful projects that can serve as inspiration to connect and inspire more women to become entrepreneurs and provide even more evidence-based figures to key decision-makers on how women entrepreneurship can potentially contribute to economic and social well-being.

What are some of the most interesting findings on global entrepreneurship of women?
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor analysed women’s participation in entrepreneurial behaviors in 59 economies, and the findings are summarised in the 2018/2019 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report (9).

• The total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) among the adult working-age population (18-64 y.o.) globally is 10.2% for women.
• The highest rates of TEA for women are in sub-Saharan Africa (21.8%) and Latin America (17.3.%) whereas the lowest rates are found in Europe (6%) and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions (9%). On the other hand, in the MENA regions there is the highest rate of women’s entrepreneurial intentions (36.6.%).
• There are nine countries in which women report equal or higher entrepreneurial activity than men: Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Panama, Qatar, Thailand and Vietnam.
• Women in higher-income countries have less intentions to start a business than women in lower-income countries, with Europe reporting the lowest rates (8.5%).
• Business discontinuance rates are highest in low-income countries (~5%) with the highest rates reported in sub-Saharan Africa (10.1%) and lowest in Europe (1.4 %).
• The highest participation rate in entrepreneurial activity is among women aged 25-34 years and 35-44 years and increases with a higher level of education.
• Globally, 36.4% of women work as solo entrepreneurs without co-founders or employees. Only 2.5% of women entrepreneurs have more than 20 employees.
• Globally, 53.4% of women’s entrepreneurial activity is in wholesale/retail trade and women mostly operate in government/health/education and social services. However, high-income countries report an opposite trend and women mostly operate in financial, professional and customer services.
• Women report lower self-confidence than men in their capabilities to start a business.

Critical discourse based on the necessity to reflect the overall context
On the other hand, it is necessary to mention that the support for entrepreneurship cannot be seen as a powerful tool for women economic empowerment without considering the whole societal context. 

For example, in Germany in the early years of 2000, the government promoted individual entrepreneurship while reducing the guaranteed rights for employees.

This resulted in less secure positions of employees and an increase in precarious working conditions. Therefore, every tool for women ‘s economic empowerment needs to be assessed individually in respect of the overall country-specific situation and the policies that have been introduced.